National Book Awards: Susan Choi wins fiction award for Trust Exercise
Queer writer Edmund White was also honored with a medal for distinguished contribution to American lettersSusan Choi has won the fiction prize at the National Book Awards in New York on Wednesday...
View ArticleSimon Armitage: ‘Nature has come back to the centre of poetry’
The poet laureate’s new prize for a collection that focuses on the environment highlights a crisis that can no longer be ignored, plus an exclusive new poemPoet laureate Simon Armitage is to use his...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Harvest by Isabel Galleymore
Carefully sown observations from nature grow swiftly into a classic ‘ecopoem’HarvestFor FrancesAfter stripping the branches of berries the robin held a handful of seeds in her stomach: the robin...
View ArticleGeorge the Poet: I rejected MBE over 'pure evil' of British empire
Spoken word artist says UK must take steps to mitigate consequences of colonial eraThe spoken word artist George the Poet has said he was offered an MBE but turned it down because of the “pure evil”...
View ArticleThat Reminds Me by Derek Owusu review – defies categorisation
A poem-memoir of a Ghanaian boy’s harrowing London childhood is moving and braveDerek Owusu’s That Reminds Me is not quite poetry. It defies categorisation: neither, strictly speaking, a memoir nor, as...
View ArticleDebut author of Queenie caps success with Costa prize shortlisting
Candice Carty-Williams, who began writing to improve representation of black British characters in fiction, joins 19 other authors contending for prestigious book of the year honourCandice...
View ArticleClive James, writer, broadcaster and TV critic, dies aged 80
James died at his home in Cambridge on Sunday almost 10 years after his first terminal diagnosis‘A wisecracking literary phenomenon’: Robert McCrum on Clive JamesClive James, the broadcaster, poet and...
View ArticleClive James on Trump, War and Peace – and furry bears
From meeting the Queen to his thoughts on Jeremy Corbyn’s beard, here are some choice cuts from the writer’s column in Guardian Weekend magazine Clive James dies, aged 80On War and PeaceOn a shelf near...
View ArticleClive James obituary
Writer, poet and critic who found fame as a presenter of TV shows such as Saturday Night CliveClive James, writer, broadcaster and TV critic, dies aged 80The writer and broadcaster Clive James, who has...
View ArticleSad loss of Clive James and Jonathan Miller – modest, witty, intellectual...
Readers remember warmth, talent and self-deprecating humourIn a world increasingly populated by charlatans and idiots, we have just lost two outstanding intelligent, funny and talented individuals in...
View Article'Natural genius is to be respected': inside Cleveland's space for teen poets
Intergenerational incubator and creative writing program Twelve Literary Arts seeks to to inspire young people to participate in democracy“Hey y’all, I’m Tai,” 15-year-old Tai-Charle’ Walker says into...
View ArticleFor Clive James, a sense of humour was just good manners
An exemplary critic, Clive laughed hard at himself and embraced his readers in their common failingsClive James never failed to get a joke. Or to go on to make a better one. This wasn’t because he was...
View ArticleBest books of 2019
Need help with what to read or gift this Christmas? Our critics pick the best novels, poetry, sports, memoirs and children’s books of the yearBernardine Evaristo, Lee Child and more pick the best books...
View ArticleBest poetry of 2019
In a year of political uncertainty, acclaimed collections have tackled racism, authoritarianism and masculinity with great grace and beauty. Sandeep Parmar shares her favouritesBest books of 2019:...
View ArticleJohn Boyega: I’m not sure forgetfulness was in the Star Wars script | Rebecca...
That’s the last thing studio heads wanted – the script of the film turning up on eBayFor a couple of days, it was the new Game of Thrones coffee cup. Last week JJ Abrams, the director of the eagerly...
View ArticleSeamus Heaney and the Music of What Happens review – this stirring tribute is...
With insight from those closest to him, this moving film celebrates the great poet’s life and extraordinary worksI thought about Seamus Heaney and the Music of What Happens (BBC Two) long after the...
View ArticleThe best books of 2019 – picked by the year’s best writers
From The Testaments to a tale of British imperial looting, the winners and runners-up of this year’s most coveted literary awards pick their three favourite titles of 2019Continue reading...
View ArticleClive James: the last interview
Two months before his death, the broadcaster, poet and critic spoke about his own mortalityJournalists shouldn’t interview people they know, or even (I think) acquaintances with whom they’re friendly....
View ArticleThe Guardian view on truth and art: fiction as a guide | Editorial
Ambiguity and complexity – Keats’s ‘negative capability’ – are missing from our world todayIn a letter of 1817, John Keats wrote: “It struck me what quality went to form a Man of Achievement,...
View ArticleTime Lived, Without Its Flow by Denise Riley review – captive to the present...
A grieving mother’s account of life after her son’s death is exquisitely expressedThis small, blue hardback, with lines of gold coursing down its front cover, might – from the outside – be mistaken for...
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